Vincent Clerc's last-minute try stole France a 17-20 Six Nations victory in Dublin, maintaining France's momentum towards both a Grand Slam and their Rugby World Cup in September.
In a pulsating game of rugby, in which the momentum ebbed and flowed, Ronan O'Gara's penalty with four minutes remaining looked to have sealed the victory for Ireland at 17-13 ahead, but Clerc broke through some weak tackling at the last to score the vital points, and leave Ireland once again wondering what could have been.
What a thriller! What a finish! It was one of those finishes where ecstasy turned rapidly to soggy gloom for one lot and gloom burst into ecstasy for the others. This was the sort of great divide between winners and losers that a World Cup final produces.
It was a beautiful Dublin day with the sun shining on the magnificence of Croke Park, the beautiful stands and Hill 16, the uncovered terraces near the railway line which commemorates the 1916 uprising. Somehow the singing of Amhrán na bhFiann, The Soldier's Song, in Gaelic was all the more appropriate at Croke Park.
To some this was billed as a Six Nations final. After England's poor, retrogressive performance against Italy, France against Ireland was regarded as the decider for the championship, and Ireland seemed to have it in the bag.
On 14 minutes France scored a try and converted it to lead 13-3. They did not score again for 65 minutes but when they did it counted. Most of the second half had been a try-desert and then ten points blossomed in the last two minutes.
The Irish trudged off with sorrowful face. It was so confoundingly close.
It was the match the whole country had been looking forward to -- rugby, the English game, played at Croke Park, the temple of the Gaelic Game.
But perhaps Bishop Croke, on his throne in heaven, may have blessed the moment, however disappointing the result of the match, for the reconciliation it represented.
The second half had few points but it was gripping with thrust, parry, counterthrust, parry, counterthrust. But Ireland had gone into a one-point lead with 23 minutes to go.
As time ebbed away, replacement Lionel Beauxis kicked a soaring drop which rebounded off an upright. Back came Ireland and France were penalised when they collapsed a long Irish maul. Ronan O'Gara kicked the goal. 17-14 with two minutes to play and out of dropped goal range, but the glee was short-lived.
France got the ball back from the kick-off and went right where David Marty accelerated ahead into the Irish 22 and Yannick Jauzion carried it on. They won quick ball from the tackle and Pierre Mignoni fed Beauxis who threw a long pass to his left -- to Vincent Clerc in a centre position. The wing darted between John Hayes and Neil Best, swerving past groping Denis Hickie and away from stretching Paul O'Connell to score as Shane Horgan approached, horror on his face.
The French were delighted and hoisted Clerc on high. Beauxis converted.
Time was still not up but, unlike Ireland, France secured the kick off and mauled it bit by bit 20 metres or so down the field. Mignoni chatted to the referee and asked how much time was left.
"Five seconds."
Mignoni got the ball out of the maul and hoofed it out over the touchline. That took up five seconds and broke Irish hearts.
The match was played in constant noise. Not even a French kick at goal produced silence, for it seemed that Croke Park had not imported Lansdowne Road's unique manners.
Ireland played into the declining sun in the first half and kicked off. From the very start it seemed France would blow the Irish away. They mauled the first line-out and sent the ball wide to their right where David Marty had a strong run. Denis Leamy interfered at the tackle and David Skréla goaled. In less than a minute France led.
Ireland lost their first line-out and as "Fields of Athenry" sounded at the first scrum, the French silenced it by taking a tighthead heel against the head. Ireland looked out of it.
They went right, left and right again and then Rory Best leant over a tackle/ruck and grabbed Mignoni who did not have the ball, slap in front of French posts. 6-0. The pockets of Frenchmen in the 83,000 crowd were having fun. France looked so much better.
But Ireland managed to nudge their way into French territory and Skréla was penalised for diving in on a tackle and O'Gara made it 6-3 after 12 minutes.
Then France took over again, dominating possession, clearing tackles at speed, running with direction and skilful handling.
Their first try came when O'Gara kicked out and Clerc threw in quickly to himself from the touchline on his left. France went wide right where Marty powered ahead. They came back wide left where Raphaël Ibañez came in on a close route inside flimsy Geordan Murphy for a try. Skréla converted. That made it 13-3 and the omens were that France was set fair for a big victory.
Ireland started to get ball but their O'Driscoll-less backs looked disjointed and unskilful. They made a mess of the first three occasions when they tried to run the ball. But when Christophe Dominici was offside, O'Gara made it 13-6.
Skréla, whose defence was excellent, won a turnover, Ireland had a strong maul against the powerful French battalion, Murphy caught a Garryowen in magnificent fashion, Horgan kicked a cross-kick and then Clément Poitrenaud sliced a kick into touch on his 22.
Ireland went right and then came back left with exquisite handling for a thrilling try. It went from O'Gara to Hickie, then Horgan and then David Wallace out on the left. The flank turned his back as a posse of Frenchmen grabbed him and offloaded a pass to O'Gara looping round. The pass was behind the fly-half but he stuck back a right hand to pull it in and score the try. O'Gara missed the conversion and the whole of Croke Park groaned a groan that must have reverberated to all corners of Ireland.
Now Ireland were scrapping for everything and France were not having their own way. But they had their chances. Skréla missed two penalty attempts and then, when Mignoni's kick near the half-way line was charged the ball ricocheted into the arms of Imanol Harinordoquy who charged downfield past Girvan Dempsey. He was eventually brought to ground but France quickly spun the ball left and a try looked a dead certainty till Murphy managed to intervene and save the Irish line.
The score at half-time was 13-11 to the French, which did not do them justice.
With the bit of breeze and a lot of energy, Ireland fought back in the second half. Gordon D'Arcy who looked less at home at outside centre, had a great break, Ireland had a long maul, Hickie a long run and "Fields of Athenry" sang of Irish dreams.
In the second half of the match Ireland were not penalised once, France five times (The overall penalty count was 10-4). O'Gara kicked two of those penalties to set up that excruciating finish.
In Week 1 of the 2007 Six Nations the best match was saved for last. It was true of the Week 2 as well. Maybe it was playing on Sunday that did it. Perhaps the organisers should think of having all Six Nations matches on Sundays!
Man of the Match: It was a match of many heroes -- Ronan O'Gara, Isaac Boss, Denis Leamy, Paul O'Connell, Marcus Horan for his skill outside of the scrum, Sébastien Chabal charging wide from scrums to make an overlap for his backs, David Marty, Vincent Clerc and our Man of the Match Pierre Mignoni for the speed with which he got his backs going and for the way he snapped up unconsidered trifles. His concentration was absolute.
Moment of the Match: Vincent Clerc's try. Otherwise it would have been Ronan O'Gara's try. Otherwise it would have been Raphaël Ibañez's try.
Villain of the Match: Nobody at all. The match was a credit to rugby football. That old cliché -- Rugby was the winner. Ireland would probably have preferred it to have been Ireland.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Try: O'Gara
Pens: O'Gara 2
For France:
Try: Ibañez
Con: Skréla
Pens: Skréla 2
The teams:
Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Geordan Murphy, 13 Shane Horgan, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Denis Hickie, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Simon Best, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Neil Best or Jamie Heaslip, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Andrew Trimble.
France: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Christophe Dominici, 10 David Skréla, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Sebastian Chabal, 7 Imañol Harinordoquy, 6 Serge Betsen, 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Pieter de Villiers, 2 Raphaël Ibañez (captain), 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements: 16 Yannick Bru, 17 Olivier Milloud, 18 Jérôme Thion, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Lionel Beauxis, 22 Cédric Heymans.
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand), Malcolm Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: Peter Allan (Scotland)
Assessor: Steve Hilditch (Ireland)
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